man from Leicester who had extreme deformities. Unable to find work due to his physical appearance, Merrick ended up in the Leicester workhouse for four years. In 1884 he left the workhouse and put himself in the charge of the music hall proprietors Sam Torr and J. Ellis, and the travelling showman 'Little George' Hitchcock. Collectively, they presented Merrick as "The Elephant Man, Half-a-Man and Half-an-Elephant". They quickly realised that they would not be able to show Merrick for too long in one place, for fear of the novelty wearing off, and towards the end of 1884, Hitchcock contacted Norman, an acquaintance of his, and transferred management of the Elephant Man to him. Merrick arrived in London and into Norman's care. Norman, initially shocked by Merrick's appearance and reluctant to display him, nonetheless exhibited him at his penny gaff shop at 123 Whitechapel Road, directly across the road from the London Hospital. Because of its proximity to the hospital, the shop received medical students and doctors as visitors. One of these was the surgeon Frederick Treves who arranged to have Merrick brought into the hospital to be examined. According to Norman's autobiography, Merrick went to the hospital "two or three" times, but then refused to go any more, as the examinations made him feel "like an animal in a cattle market". The exhibition of the Elephant Man was reasonably successful, particularly with the added income from a printed pamphlet about Merrick's life and condition. At this time, however, public opinion about freak shows was starting to change and the display of human novelties was beginning to be viewed as distasteful. After only a few weeks with Norman, the Elephant Man exhibition was shut down by the police, and Norman and Merrick parted ways. Treves later arranged for Merrick to live at the London Hospital until Merrick's death in 1890. In Treves's 1923 memoir, The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences Norman was portrayed as a drunk who cruelly exploited Merrick. Norman counteracted these claims in a letter in the World's Fair newspaper that year, as well as his own autobiography. Norman's opinion was that he provided Merrick (and his other exhibits) a way of making a living and remaining independent, but that on entering the London Hospital, Merrick remained a freak on display, only with no control over how or when he was viewed. The character Bytes, portrayed by Freddie Jones